Flanfire

Ho-kay!  You can see the video of Jessie Torrisi and the Mello Cellos (Rob Jewett, who plays a lot of other instruments as wel, and Alissa Schram) at La Zona Rosa, where Tuesday nights will be rockin’ with members of the Marshall Ford Swing Band and Milk Drive in upcoming weeks.  Many may not realize that the front room at this giant venue is a great place (for example) to shoot a video, watch a band and play ping-pong all at the same time — and the bar has pool tables and a great lounging area besides.  And some good draft and bottled beer. 

I could not resist throwing in another photo of Danny B Harvey — shown here playing with the Jessica Shepherd Band (that’s Perry Drake on drums, but also Trisha Keefer (of the Trishas and Dustin Welch’s House Band) on fiddle and David Valley on bass).  This show was out at Klattenhoff Park in Wells Branch on a hot Sunday afternoon — but the real smoke was coming from the stage.  Jessica just sent her new CD off to the manufacturer and it is hot stuff. 

The Beautiful Mistakes started out a few years back and were for a while the house band at Roadhouse Rags (one of my favorite Austin venues), but here they are at Momo’s Club — Ben Todd and Ben Sirko on guitars and vocals, Ashley Pankey on bass, Jason Toll on drums, and the amazing Aaron Starr on harmonica (amazing because he has brought out the saxophone as a second instrument).  This is one kick-ass band that can jam with anybody — the more I listen, the more I like.  Stop by the Continental Gallery and ask Ben for a demo — made (where else?) at Roadhouse Rags — and I hear the band is about to put together a newer collage of their live sets there onto a playable disc.  RUMOR has it that a tall Kentucky blonde may be on stage with them here and now.

Also debuting a new CD is Boerne’s Matt McCloskey (living here now, of course), who has been holding down Mondays at Momo’s for the past few weeks.  Matt has a new CD available, “These Times Won’t Last,” recorded with George Henderson on bass, James Richardson on drums, and Joe Moralez on keyboards — but his band right now includes Brian Marshall on guitar (and banjo!).  Matt himself plays guitar, piano and harmonica on the record, which features seven of his rockin’ songs.  He is back at Momo’s in July (with Deadman on the bills too) and plays the EverGreen House Concert in Boerne at the end of the month.  The title cut is a nice opener, and the record continues with “Bottled Up,” which rocks, and a real ballad, “That Kind of Love,” that has an old-time feeling – a mesh of Mellencamp and Ryan AND Bryan Adams, pop but indie too.  Maybe Matt lives in a pink house?  “Give All Your Love To Me” is another ballad.  “Love Her Through the Hard Times” sounds like a song written by a man who is growing in responsibility in real life — a song about commitment that all too often these days is foreign to our experience — a real primer for keeping the fires lit.  “Dyin’” is pure R & B — and great to dance (close) to.  The last cut, “Baby, I Need You,” is an admission that genuine love really makes a huge difference in our lives.

This first shot is for the ladies — it’s bassist supreme Kyle Clayton, who on one late afternoon last month (and on many other occasions as well) provided the foundation for songwriters Margo Valiante (see bottom clip here, and that’s Etan Sekons on guitar) and Joanna Barbera (not shown here, but with the fabulous Julia Parmenter on operatic vocal harmonies).  Kyle and his band, About Blank, have a new record out of their own called RISE and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it several times already.  Now even though Kyle has a great (deep) voice, this is an instrumental record that also features bandmatws Danny Anderson on guitar, Dave Adams on drums, Kevin Gibbs on saxophones, Paul Luedke on trumpet, and guests Marcus Cardwell on baritone sax, Stephen Graf on trombone, DJ Stillness (uh, turntables), and Ian Varley on organ.  This record is 13 slices of pure “psycho-funky-jazz’ from one of my favorite groups anywhere in town.  The boys will be at the Elephant Room on July 26th and at the Lucky Lounge (for a CD release?) at the end of August.

At top right we have Charlie Terrell, who has un-retired after getting settled with the lovely Polly here in Austin and shaken off the cobwebs to just tear up Austin music stages, including the gorgeous outdoor stage at the Scoot Inn with bandmates Danny B. Harvey (off right now with the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash), Brad Fordham (Jerry Jeff, anyone?), Tom Lewis (Heybale), and a cast of a thousand “Murdered Johns.”  Charlie is a throwback to those glory days of southern rock — and a show not to be missed.  Great gravelly voice and a real showman.

But if it is pure joy you want, then get out to Threadgills on July 17th when the Trishas open for Willis Alan Ramsey.  From left to right, Savannah Welch, Kelley Mickwee, Jamie Wilson (of the Gougers), Liz Foster, and violinist Trisha Keefer.  This is just the best all-girl vocal group ever — they even blow away the Boone Girls.  Now, Savannah is busy with her movie career, Kelly is at House Wine most Thursdays with Andrew Hardin, and yadda yadda, but Stonehoney and the Band of Heathens together cannot generate as much pure emotion and power in their harmony vocals.  [After all, they're guys!]

The girls describe their sound as what happens when “Texas dirt, Mississippi River water, City Lights and Apple Pie sit down together in a pickin’ circle at an Austin backyard party – which I presume means Liz, Kelley, Savannah and Jamie in that order (explanations falter).  But it is not just that they are all drop dead beautiful – there are a lot of pretty faces out there.  This truly IS music people sing in a circle around a campfire — old songs, new songs, soulful and blue.  And any band where I get to hear Jamie Wilson sing her amazing songs has got to be a real favorite!  And there is more good news — Jamie has a new EP about ready for prime time (details to follow).

The photo below shows three-fourths of Margo’s new band — yup, she debuted with her new drummer at Momo’s last week before heading home to Wyoming to sing at a couple of weddings and get out of the Texas heat.  Thank goodness she will be back soon — meanwhile, Etan is working with the handsome Geron Hoy in a new project that we shall soon hear more about.  [And I have to mention that the piano player/guitarist with the big smile, Josh Halverson, is back in town for a while — I met his dad the other night at Momo’s and though brother Jake (who also plays drums and sings) is the better known rodeo cowboy, pop says that Josh can rope a steer just as well.